A SCORING SYSTEM FOR USE IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF ACUTE ABDOMINAL-PAIN IN CHILDHOOD

A statistical analysis was undertaken of 1158 children admitted to a s urgical ward for the management of acute abdominal pain. Over two-thir ds (40%) of the children had non-specific abdominal pain while 29.7% h ad appendicitis. The remainder were found to have had urinary tract in fections (11.7%), constipation (7.5%), gastroenteritis (5.8%) or intus susception (5.3%). A stepwise discriminant analysis of the data collec ted during their evaluation was performed, using the BMDP statistical software package. Demographic and clinical features, as well as the re sults of ancillary investigations, were included in the data. The prog ramme generated a classification function of a sub-set of 18 variables which best discriminated among the diagnostic groups. The coefficient s of the classification functions were then combined with the rank ord er of selection of the variables to derive a scoring method for predic ting the diagnosis. The results of urine culture were excluded since t hese would be unavailable during early clinical assessment. The scores for the diagnostic groups fell within the following ranges:-1-23 Non- specific abdominal pain; 20-48 Appendicitis; 35-84 Gastroenteritis; 75 -88 Constipation and 89-140 Intussusception. It is suggested that this scoring method be evaluated by a prospective study to test its validi ty.